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Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf in Leafs doghouse vs. Jets

The Leafs closed their home schedule with a 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. It was as disappointing as it was confounding. Picking for the doghouse is easy. Finding someone for the penthouse is hard.

The Leafs were listless. They scored two lucky goals. Phil Kessel finished a 2-on-1 after the Jets defence inexplicably went for a line change, and Nazem Kadri jumped on a turnover. Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec basically went behind the net to pass it to Kadri, who couldn't believe his luck. It was a power-play goal for a power play that didn't deserve it.

The rest of the game, the Leafs found new and innovative ways to keep the puck in their own end, looking like a peewee team playing against men along the way.

Whatever, it's all over but the crying. The Leafs have three games left with 84 points. Running the table probably won't be good enough. Columbus, in the final wild-card spot, has five games left and 85 points. The Devils, with four games left, also have 84 points.

DOGHOUSE: Kessel and Dion Phaneuf. The two leaders are failing in that particular endeavour. Sure, Kessel can score, and we can say all we want about Phaneuf's desire. But on the first Winnipeg goal, both were to blame. Phaneuf wandered away from his post and was out by the blue line when Bryan Little scored at 6:22. Little was standing right where Phaneuf should have been. Oddly enough, Kessel was right there, doing nothing but flailing his stick at Little. If the team leadership is going to play so weakly in its own end in a critical game, can the rest of the team be blamed for doing the same?

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PENTHOUSE: Dave Bolland. He probably shouldn't even be playing. He is doing everything he can, on one ankle it looks like, to help this team. He has difficulty turning left. Sometimes he simply falls when he does. He did so on Saturday night. Mercifully, coach Randy Carlyle limited Bolland's ice time, at least until Joffrey Lupul re-aggravated whatever part of his lower body kept him out of the Boston game. Here's hoping Bolland does not make anything worse for his ankle, which suffered a torn tendon in November, as he heads into a summer where he is to become an unrestricted free agent.

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